Penal

That which involves suffering: hence, more largely, that which pertains to punishment; inflicts loss by way of restraint or sanction. Penal is used as a synonym of criminal, in secondary senses of that word. Penal and criminal offence, penal and criminal code, penal and criminal justice, are equivalent expressions. In many connections the two words are not interchangeable; as in the expressions criminal or penal action, criminal conduct, penal bill or bond. The word penal, in a statute authorizing " all penal judgments," &c., to be reviewed, was construed to read " final," in Moody v. Stephenson, 1 Minn. 401.

Penal action

An expression employed to designate an ordinary suit at law for the collection of a penalty imposed by law for some misconduct or prohibited act.

Penal bill

An instrument formerly in use, by which a party bound himself to pay a certain sum or sums of money, or to do certain acts, or, in default thereof, to pay a certain specified sum by way of penalty, thence termed a penal sum. These instruments hare been superseded by the use of a bond in a penal sum, with conditions. Brown. Penal clause. That particular portion or subdivision of a statute which declares the consequences in the nature of punishment or loss which are to follow a violation of previous provisions. Penal lavsr, or statute. Laws imposing penalties or punishments are so called. In one sense, all laws, properly so called, are penal laws; since any created may, in the absence of provisions excluding, expressly or by implication, the common-law rule, be followed by fine and imprisonment. But ordinarily, when a " penal law " is mentioned, the meaning is a law which expressly defines or limits the punishment of any offence, — whether such offence is one previously known to the law, or one created by the very law which provides the punishment. In parliamentary practice, inasmuch as a penal statute is, to the extent of the penalty, a money-bill, the commons claim the exclusive right of framing all such enactments, the lords and crown having merely a right of assent.

Modey Sj- W

The question whether a given provision in an act of parliament is a penal one or not, is sometimes important. For instance, it is a rule that penal statutes must be construed strictly; that is, narrowly. It may also be sometimes a question whether a sum of money, payable under a statute by a person who has done or omitted to dp certain things, is intended to be so payable by way of penalty or by way of composition. If the former, then the act to which the penalty is annexed is itself illegal, and cannot be made the foundation of a legal contract; whereas, in the latter case, no such consequence will follow. Brown. Penal laws are those which prohibit an act, and impose a penalty for the commission of it. They are of three kinds, — ■pmta pecuniaria, poena corporalis, and poena exilii, (2 Cro.Jac. 415.) Wharton. A constitutional provision, directing the disposition of " fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws," should be considered as applying only to breaches of the criminal law, properlj' so called; that is, to crimes and misdemeanors. It does not extend to a statute penalty, recoverable in debt. A suit on a penal statute is not a criminal, but a civil, cause. Such a statute, therefore, is no p^rt of the criminal law.

Common Council of Town of Indianapolis v. Fairchild, 1 Ind. 315.

Penal servitude

A punishment introduced in 1853, by Stat. 16 & 17 Vict. ch. 99, in lieu of transportation beyond seas. Every person sentenced to this punishment may be kept in any prison or place of confinement in the United l Ongdom, or in any river, port, or harbor thereof, or in some place in her majesty's dominions beyond seas, duly appointed for such purpose by order in council, according as the secretary of state may, from time to time, direct; and may, while confined there, be kept to hard labor, and otherwise dealt with, in like manner as persons formerly sentenced to transportation might be dealt with while so confined. The act above referred to was further amended, in 1864, by Stat. 27 & 28 Vict. ch. 47, by section 2 of which it is provided that no person shall be sentenced to penal servitude for a shorter period than five years. (4 Steph. Com. 449-452; Oke Mag. Sun. 940-945; Cox ^ Sound. Cr. Law, 311.) Mozleii ^ W.

Penal sum

A sum declared by bond to be forfeited, if the condition of the bond is not fulfilled. This is otherwise called the penalty of the bond. If the bond is for the payment of money, the penal sum is generally fixed at twice the amount.